Being At Work

USE YOUR FEARS, DON'T LET THEM STOP YOU!

Every couple of weeks I am asked by the Personal Financial Editor for the Detroit News, Brian O'Connor, to add career tips to a story he has written about someone's career makeover. These tips are published in the paper and also appear on the Detroit News website. You can read the articles on my website, beingatwork.com. These were my tips for the article dated Monday, August 28, 2006. The story was titled, "Airline pilot also lands home sales." This is the story about a pilot for Northwest Airlines who saw the "writing on the wall" and made a career move into real estate.

My Tips
This is the real deal. Larry’s story is about waking up to the realities of an industry or business in decline and getting into action. So why do most of us wait until we are pushed because our job is gone? One thing that stops all of us is fear, fear of failing, fear of not being valued, fear of not being good enough, etc. etc.. To move forward, start by thinking of your fear as a helpmate and guide to show you what you need to do.

1. Acknowledge your fears – What worries you about your current situation and what do you fear for the future? Are these fears reasonable? Look at your past work experience to find the evidence. Either the fear is real, for example your skill set is not up-to-date for your profession, or it is not real in that you feel you cannot learn a new trade or start a new career even though you’ve done it before. Look at your fears as a combination of belief and imagination and test the validity.

2. Deal with the real issues – Start taking steps now to resolve whatever your fear is warning you. If your company is in a downward spiral and you fear job cutbacks, get ready now and start your job search. If your profession is going the way of buggy whips begin a process to identify your next career. What do you like to do and do well? What skills can you take from your current career and build into the next. Talk to people who are doing what you would like to do and identify and start filling your gaps.

3. Create a support system – You don’t need to do this on your own. Identify individuals you can talk to and share your fears. This can be a combination of friends as well as professional help. You are looking for people who can encourage you when you are down and celebrate with each success. These are individuals who can keep you on track and hold you accountable to yourself and your goals. We all need help in dealing with our reasonable as well as unreasonable fears.

Second-guessing my decision

Some number of years ago I made to decision to leave my executive position and explore other worlds. It was not an easy decision. I was leaving a position that paid extremely well. I worked with people I genuinely enjoyed. I liked the company, EDS, and was successful in my career there. But something started shifting for me and I no longer liked coming to work. I knew this was a warning sign I needed to heed.

I revisited that decision last evening at an EDS 20 year anniversary party for an employee who started his leadership career in my organization. As I was catching up with people, I started thinking about what it would have been like for me had I stayed. I probably would be making more money. But other than that, I could come up with no other reason to second-guess my decision. I doubt if my career would have flourished since I wasn’t enjoying myself and therefore wouldn’t have put my all into it. My attitude would have shown in my performance and motivation, it always does. I would also have had to deal with all the cutbacks, layoffs, salary freezes and changes EDS has gone through to survive.

So, after a brief sojourn into the “what if”, I was clear that I did the right thing both for me and for the employees I would have lead half-heartedly. I would not want my Leadership Legacy to be about either a second rate performance or reductions. It was more fun for me to hear that people still thought of me as a wonderful leader who had a powerful and significant impact on their careers.